Research

In an unexpected reversal, pharmaceutical giant Biogen said it will pursue US Food and Drug Administration approval for aducanumab, an experimental treatment for early Alzheimer's disease, Biogen and its Japanese partner Eisai announced on Tuesday.

I have spent my entire career interested in the mysteries of the brain: what it looks like, how it works and what happens when it doesn’t. Alzheimer’s disease has been the primary focus of my professional life, starting as a young researcher looking at brain scans, and leading up to now, as the head of the research program at the Alzheimer’s Association.

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) has funded a major study to examine the overall benefits and risks of cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins in adults age 75 or older without cardiovascular disease. The trial will help determine whether a statin can help prevent dementia and disability in this age group, as well as heart attacks and other cardiovascular-related deaths, while not increasing risks of adverse health outcomes. Funding for the trial, called Pragmatic Evaluation of Events and Benefits of Lipid-Lowering in Older Adults (PREVENTABLE), is expected to total $90 million over the next seven years. NIA is part of the National Institutes of Health.

Type 2 diabetes is linked to a two-fold or higher increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers presented findings at Neuroscience 2019, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago, that delved into the link between dementia and the metabolic system in the brain.

Here’s the surprising truth about brain health: there is a lot you can do.

If your brain was like a bicep, you may exercise it everyday, rewarded by the tone and definition you were developing with each passing workout. The central command center of the body, the brain is an organ that acts much like a muscle.